Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

I said I'll post about the new Knit Picks yarns when they came. I was hopeful, but my hopes were dashed.

First off, the 4.5 to 5 st/1" range given as recommended gauge is too generous. The Wool of the Andes should be knit at 5 sts/1", no looser, unless you're doing lace or an intensely slip stitched fabric, where the take up will make up for the looseness. Of course, I should have guessed this from the yardage - 62+ yds/oz = a worsted wt heading towards DK wt.

And I had to use 6's to get the 5 sts/1". 8's got me 4.5 sts/1". I never have to use 6's unless I'm knitting very unstretchy yarn.

It *is* however, a decent 4-ply plain wool yarn at an excellent price. It's just not what I wanted. I wanted a yarn that does 4.5 sts/1" WELL!

The Andean Silk also gives a 4.5 to 5 st/1" range. With 8's I got 5 sts/1", but it was still way too loose and stretchy, I'd go tighter and knit it as a DK at 5.5 sts/1". The alpaca content surely needs it anyway. Feels nice.

The Merino Style is a DK and I was hoping to double it and get a chunky gauge, which, indeed, I got.

With 8's, I got 4.25 sts/1" with it doubled. I'd go to 4 sts/1" - a 9 would probably do that and I'd still like the fabric.

The merino, though soft, isn't as bouncy as I expect a merino wool yarn to be. Merino fleece is very tightly crimped - lots of waves in the fiber means lots of bounce in the yarn. This wasn't bouncy, but still a good bargain for a merino yarn.

All, in all, nothing I can use for my designing. And a caveat *always* to knitters: Don't take ball band gauges as gospel. Swatch. And I usually add "wash your swatch", as well, but these are smooth yarns, not fluffy or fuzzy, so I'm not expecting any great "blooming" to occur, but if I was to use them for a project, indeed, I'd swatch and wash.

None of the other ordered yarns have come in - I will post as they do.

I have, though, finally been able to return to a long-waiting project now that the 16 CIC vests have been knit and sent - a slip stitched and beaded! design in my cashmere. Nice! and enjoyable, too - the beading isn't as slow as I thought it might be. I'm using the "hook on bead" method - HOB - kinda gives a new meaning to making old hob of something! Now, where have I heard or read that phrase - must have been Elizabeth Zimmermann - sounds like something she would have said!

This design will need more support photos to guide knitters in the beading. I'm rather happy with how I figured out where to put the beads. Took me awhile and lots of ripping, but almost anything is do-able with enough persistence! It'll be a lovely design.

Enough for now - more work to do.